Indices extend gains in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains in morning session, ahead of the Budget 2021, which will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament later in the day. Traders took some encouragement with report that retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 3.67 percent in December 2020 against 9.63 percent in the same month of last year due to lower prices of certain food items. Some support also came with Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s statement that India was able to fight the COVID-19 pandemic much better than other countries because of its 'whole of government' and 'whole of society' approach. Market participants also took a note of Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian’s statement that economic growth leads to debt sustainability and even if India were to have real GDP growth rate as low as 3.8 per cent each year from 2022-23 to 2028-29, the country's debt levels will still come down. Meanwhile, Union government's fiscal deficit soared to Rs 11.58 lakh crore or 145.5 percent of the budget estimate at the end of December 2020, mainly on account of lower revenue realisation.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as investors shrugged off the negative cues from Wall Street Friday amid concerns about recent market volatility and following news that Johnson & Johnson's one-dose coronavirus vaccine appeared to be less potent against COVID variants. Traders also paid no heed towards the latest survey from Jibun Bank showed that the manufacturing sector in Japan fell into contraction in January, with a PMI score of 49.8. That's down from 50 in December, which was right on the line that separated expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 46759.26, up by 473.49 points or 1.02% after trading in a range of 46433.65 and 46777.56. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.86%, Realty up by 1.79%, Metal up by 0.93%, Energy up by 0.81% and Oil & Gas up by 0.72%, while Healthcare down by 0.48%, Consumer Durables down by 0.21%, Basic Materials down by 0.19%, Utilities down by 0.16%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 7.87%, ICICI Bank up by 5.32%, HDFC up by 2.83%, Infosys up by 1.24% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.47%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 3.25%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.88%, Axis Bank down by 0.78% and Asian Paints down by 0.74% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has said GST collections for January 2021 touched an all-time high of about Rs 1.20 lakh crore. The ministry said in line with the trend of recovery in the GST revenues over past five months, the revenues for the month of January 2021 are 8 per cent higher than that in the same month last year.
The ministry said the gross GST revenue collected in the month of January 2021 is Rs 1,19,847 crore, of which CGST is Rs 21,923 crore, SGST is Rs 29,014 crore, IGST is Rs 60,288 crore (including Rs 27,424 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 8,622 crore (including Rs 883 crore collected on import of goods). The number could be upped further as more GST sales returns get filed.

Revenue in April was Rs 32,172 crore, followed by Rs 62,151 crore in May, Rs 90,917 crore in June, Rs 87,422 crore in July, and Rs 86,449 crore in August. Collections in September were Rs 95,480 crore, Rs 1,05,155 crore in October, Rs 1,04,963 crore in November and Rs 1,15,174 crore in December. GST revenues had topped Rs 1 lakh crore in nine out of 12 months of 2019-20 fiscal. However, in the current fiscal, the revenues have taken a hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13752.80, up by 118.20 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 13661.75 and 13773.80. There were 26 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 8.41%, ICICI Bank up by 5.40%, HDFC up by 3.14%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 1.72% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.52%. On the flip side, UPL down by 8.14%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.34%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 3.24%, Power Grid Corpn. down by 0.89% and Wipro down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 538.90 points or 1.91% to 28,822.61, Nikkei 225 surged 374.98 points or 1.36% to 28,038.37, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 241.26 points or 1.59% to 15,379.57, Jakarta Composite soared 88.07 points or 1.5% to 5,950.42, KOSPI rose 69.37 points or 2.33% to 3,045.58 and Shanghai Composite gained 3.39 points or 0.1% to 3,486.46.

On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 1.48 points or 0.05% to 2,901.04.